Short stories or Real life experience that jog your mind to keep your spirits healthy.

Friday, January 1, 2016

One String

Niccolo Paganini, a colourful
and gifted Violinist of the nineteenth century was standing before a packed
house, playing through a difficult piece of music. A full orchestra surrounded
him with full support. Suddenly, one string on his violin snapped and hung
gloriously down from his instrument.

Beads of perspiration popped out
of his forehead. He frowned but continued to play, improvising beautifully. To
the conductor’s surprise, a second string broke and shortly after, a third. Now
there were three limp strings dangling from Paganini’s violin as the master
performer completed the difficult composition on the remaining one string. The
audience jumped to its feet and in good Italian fashion filled the Hall with
shouts of “Bravo! Bravo!”

As the applause died down, the
violinist asked the people to sit down. Even though they knew there was no way
they could expect an encore, they quietly sank back to their seats. He held the
Violin up high for everyone to see. He nodded at the conductor to begin the
encore and then turned back to the crowd.

With a twinkle in his eye, he
smiled and shouted, “Paganini and one string!”

After that he placed the single
string Stradivarius (violins manufactured by Antonio Stradivari) beneath
his chin and played the final piece on one string as the audience shook their
heads in silent amazement.

Our life may very well be filled
with troubles, worries and disappointments. We spend most of the time
concentrating and fretting over the strings that snap or at things that can’t
be changed. If you are one of them who is still grieving over the snapped
strings in life, then lookout for that “one string” that is still intact and
start playing the single string with conviction. Let it yield a sweet, winsome
melody that the world needs so desperately.